Over 140 booked, 8 arrested for poll-related violence

Mumbai: A day after skirmishes and altercations were reported from some parts of Maharashtra on account of the assembly poll, the police and administration on Thursday issued clarifications and initiated action against accused candidates and their supporters the Parli assembly segment in Beed, Nandgaon assembly segment in Nashik, Bhokar assembly segment in Nanded and Airoli assembly segment in Navi Mumbai.
In Nandgaon, where Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande threatened independent candidate and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s nephew Sameer Bhujbal with death over accusations of bogus voting, the police registered nine first information reports (FIR) and booked over 100 people including Kande and Bhujbal under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Kande was booked for threatening Bhujbal with death, while Bhujbal was booked for breaching the model code of conduct, obstructing the polling process and gathering a mob.
“We have registered nine cases on people from both sides under various sections. Inquiry is underway and no one has been arrested yet.” said Pritam Chaudhari, police inspector, Nandgaon.
Sameer Bhujbal said, “I am not aware of the details regarding the charges against me or Kande. My legal team is looking into the matter.”
In Parli, where six polling booths were vandalised during voting on Wednesday, police have registered two FIRs for disrupting polling and damaging electronic voting machines and arrested seven of the 40 accused, said Chetna Tidke, additional superintendent of police. One FIR was lodged at Bardapur and another at Ambejogai rural police station. NCP (SP) leader Madhav Jadhav, who was allegedly assaulted on Wednesday, has not lodged any complaint yet, although police have learnt that he has sent a complaint by post, Tidke said.
“I was attacked because I have been speaking up against hooliganism in the district,” Jadhav told reporters on Thursday. Villagers in Ghatnandur, where Jadhav was allegedly assaulted, observed a bandh on Thursday from the morning till the afternoon.
Rajesaheb Deshmukh, the NCP (SP) candidate contesting against NCP’s Dhananjay Munde in Parli, said that when he visited a polling booth in Dharmapuri on Wednesday, he was threatened and abused while many other party workers from the opposition were either threatened or assaulted. He also demanded a repoll in all 122 critical booths in the constituency, saying, “Most of these critical polling stations witnessed illegal activities such as bogus voting and violence and we urge the election commission to hold a repoll in these booths.”
But Beed collector Avinash Pathak ruled out the possibility of a repoll. “I do not think there is any need for repoll as votes polled before the vandalism incidents were intact. The final decision however will depend on reports from the returning officer and observers,” said Pathak.
In the Bhokar assembly segment, where BJP leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan allegedly detained voters inside a hall in Ardhapur on Wednesday, the district administration clarified that seating arrangements had been made for the voters so they would not have to wait in long queues. Chavan’s daughter Srijaya is contesting against Tirupati Patil Kondhekar of the Congress from Bhokar.
An official from the Nanded district collectorate said that since the Lok Sabha bypoll was being conducted alongside the assembly poll on Wednesday, long queues had formed outside many polling booths.
“Our voting ended at 10.20pm on Wednesday. Voters in Ardhapur have not raised any complaint about being detained,” the official said.
In Airoli, Ankush Kadam, the candidate put up by Swarajya Paksha founded by Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, was arrested on charges of assaulting a BJP functionary. He was produced in court on Thursday and remanded in police custody for two days.